Indigenous nations receive 10 per cent stake in coal terminal

Ridley Terminals Inc. is officially up for sale, and the Lax Kw’alaams Band and Metlakatla First Nation will share in the profits.

A Nov. 5 letter from the Canadian Development Investment Corporation (CDEV) states that it has been mandated by the federal government to find a buyer for Ridley Terminals, who will receive a 90 percent stake in the company.

The remaining 10 per cent will be owned either directly or indirectly by Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla.

CDEV has already written letters to potential buyers informing them of the sale. Interested parties may request non-disclosure agreements, and, if signed, will be able to submit a non-binding proposal for the purchase of RTI. CDEV will select a shortlist of potential purchasers based on these proposals.

In the second phase of the process, finalists in the process will be granted access to more detailed and confidential information about RTI, and will be given opportunities to meet with RTI’s management team, Lax Kw’alaams Band and Metlakatla First Nation. They will also be able to visit the site itself.

Following this second phase, shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit final offers to CDEV, which will make a final recommendation to the federal government.

The sale is expected to be completed by the summer of 2019.

On Aug. 9, the federal government announced that it was discussing a potential sale of RTI with six First Nations in the region. This development followed a profitable year by the coal terminal, which recorded revenues of $178-million in 2017, which was a 192.5 per cent increase from 2016.